How Old is Hallie?

Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

How Old is Lea?

Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Monday, June 25, 2007

Hibernation Redux



This is a quickie, since none of us have much energy around here right now (except for Hallie, of course, who seems to have no difficulty surviving on 120 calories a day).

Anyway, ever since the day of Hallie's birthday party, it's been back to square one where congestion/vomiting is concerned. Is it teething? a virus? several viruses? crawling? a reflux flare up? allergies? something else entirely? Your guess is as good as mine, and apparently as good as our (very excellent) pediatrician's. In any event, this is not only messy (gotta love cleaning pediasure off of all possible surfaces; we are sending Hallie a bill for all new furniture when she turns 18). It is also disheartening. We had just gotten to a place where we had the evil cooties of vomit/congestion of May that did in our Vegas trip and very nearly drove us insane beaten. Hallie was eating really well--better than ever. She had been taking at least 20 ounces of pediasure a day, two or three meals of baby food a day (very happily), and a few snacks of frozen yogurt or iced pediasure. Things were grand. The kid had put on about a pound in a month. She was back close to the 25th percentile for her adjusted age, which is her personal curve. We were getting to sleep early (like 2am, which is sadly enough early for us).

Now this.

We have been back at the pediatrician's office again for another sick visit, spent five hours at the ER at CHOP getting her dosed with decadron to maybe blow out the congestion (marginally if at all helpful) and have another sick visit on Wednesday. We should get our own waiting room or something.

I wish that someone could help explain why this seems to go in three or four week cycles, where we have two or three bad weeks, followed by one or two good weeks and then back all over again. We're driving ourselves nuts here...

Anyway, just on the off chance that Hallie is picking up every illness known to mankind (or children kind), we're back to hibernating. Which means no more commune. Hallie misses Karina and Ethan, and the feeling is quite mutual. The closest Hallie and Karina have gotten over the past few days is Hallie riding in her excellent new roadster from Aunt Laura, Uncle Bryan and the kids and Karina riding in the Snugli backpack on Vanessa's back. They waved and squealed at each other frantically but no touching was allowed. And they are not the only ones suffering; Sharon and I miss the company and the support, too. Not to mention all of the tasty dinners served up by Josh and Mark/Vanessa.

Well, I'll leave you on that terribly uncheerful note. Except to say that there are no new pics of Hallie because we don't even have energy to upload any pictures.

5 comments:

Cora said...

I'm so sorry to hear you're back to vomit/snot/hibernation fest '07! Perhaps Hallie has big plans to keep the 2 of you sleep deprived and really worried about her so the next couple of days are busier...We'll be thinking of you!
Cora & Amelia

Ms.Kitty said...

I think she's sneaking Big Macs! She'll get back on an even keel soon. Hopefully, it is just teething gone bad and will fade quickly. Or maybe it was just too much birthday cake!

Jennifer said...

Oh boy can I relate!

Arianna was sick every 3 weeks from September to the middle of May. She'd get some illness, end up on antibiotics that would mess with her tummy and then when she was feeling good she'd get something else. She never got a break, was labeled failure to thrive and was absolutely miserable. I'm in a state of delusion that she has lasted this long (6 weeks!!)without illness... really.

One thing we did change was adding yo baby yogurt (by stoneyfield farms, completely organic) to her day for the probiotics - can you do that with Hallie or is dairy a no no with her reflux?

Can't say its been THE product that helped Arianna but it may be worth trying.

I feel for you - its really hard when they're sick. I'll never forget thinking to myself "Although I love my daughter, I really don't like her...". She had been so sick for so long I forgot what a good baby she could be when she wasn't sick :(

Anonymous said...

Hang in there, guys! It sounds like a really tough stretch, I hope things come around for Hallie soon.

Billie said...

Sorry to hear you are back in hibernation mode. Trust me when I say that I know what that is like!

Too bad though...we have a trip to Sesame Place planned next week so we'll be in the area...